Comedian Al Franken rehearses for his radio show "The O'Franken Factor" Monday, March 29, 2004, at Air America studios in New York. The show is scheduled to begin Wednesday, March 31. (AP Photo/Ed Bailey) Comedian Al Franken rehearses for &quo;The O'Franken Factor.&quo; ProductName Chronicle STAND ALONE PHOTO Business#Business#Chronicle#9/25/2004#ALL#5star##0421698117 less

Comedian Al Franken rehearses for his radio show "The O'Franken Factor" Monday, March 29, 2004, at Air America studios in New York. The show is scheduled to begin Wednesday, March 31. (AP Photo/Ed Bailey) ... more

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Comedian Al Franken rehearses for his radio show "The O'Franken Factor" Monday, March 29, 2004, at Air America studios in New York. The show is scheduled to begin Wednesday, March 31. (AP Photo/Ed Bailey) Comedian Al Franken rehearses for &quo;The O'Franken Factor.&quo; ProductName Chronicle STAND ALONE PHOTO Business#Business#Chronicle#9/25/2004#ALL#5star##0421698117 less

Comedian Al Franken rehearses for his radio show "The O'Franken Factor" Monday, March 29, 2004, at Air America studios in New York. The show is scheduled to begin Wednesday, March 31. (AP Photo/Ed Bailey) ... more

Comedian Al Franken is bringing his ambitious attempt to create a liberal talk radio network to the Bay Area's airwaves starting Tuesday.

Air America, which got off to a rocky beginning after its start in April, will take over the slot now occupied by KABL on 960 AM. The new station will be called KQKE, "the Quake." KABL, which plays American standards from the 1940s and 1950s, will move to 92.1 FM, broadcasting out of Walnut Creek.

Clear Channel Communications, which owns KABL, hopes to turn the Sinatra- oriented station into a broader network, starting with 92.1 and a station in Monterey, according to KABL General Manager Joe Cunningham.

Cunningham acknowledged the irony in Clear Channel taking on the liberal talk of Air America. Many liberals love to lambaste Clear Channel -- both for its corporate leadership's support of President Bush and for stations like KNEW (910 AM), a conservative talk station starring San Francisco's Michael Savage.

"There's a general misconception that Clear Channel as a company must be aligned one way or another," Cunningham said. "These are just business decisions of where we can find the best programming. The Bay Area is pretty hungry for it."

Or, in the words of Cunningham's boss, Clear Channel Senior Vice President Ed Krampf, who oversees a region stretching from Fresno to Alaska, "We're capitalists. We put on what the listening audience wants."

Clear Channel started KNEW last year, hiring Savage away from Disney- owned KSFO (560 AM). Now it has even bigger game in its sights: KSFO's sister station KGO (810 AM), the market leader for the past 25 years. "KGO's going to have their hands full now," Krampf said.

"It's a pretty centrist talk station. I'm not telling you we're going to beat KGO, but the 25-year reign they've had is going to be in jeopardy."

In addition to the Air America lineup, which includes Franken, comedian Janeane Garofalo and Florida talk show host Randi Rhodes, KQKE will also feature Ed Schultz, a fiery liberal talk show host from North Dakota. Clear Channel said it has already had success broadcasting Schultz on one of its stations in Portland, Ore.

Air America premiered to much fanfare this year as a liberal alternative in a talk radio landscape dominated by conservatives like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. But the network suffered from management turnover, miscommunication over how well it was funded and disputes with affiliates that led to it losing its stations in Los Angeles and Chicago almost immediately. It was supposed to start airing on Bay Area stations KVTO and KVVN in April, but never did.